Treats for 5 Week olds

[Airilith]

I want to spoil my little ones, at least occassionally. I offered them hardboiled eggs a few times, and they didn't like them at all.

So I was considering angel hair, as I have alot of it in the pantry right now. For those who feed spagetti shaped pastas, do you cut them up first? I was thinking that might be safest. I was also considering mealies, but the ones I have are called superworms (they are like giant mealworms). Is there anyone on here who feeds them, by chance?

And I'd love any other suggestions. I've looked through the treat chart, just having a hard time deciding where to start after the failure of the eggs. Though perhaps I should try those again.

Thanks bunches!

Edited to add: I thought of another question. Can I feed them those wild bird treat blocks I've seen in Walmart. I was thinking that might be a good treat to leave in the coop, and it might even last a while. I just haven't read of anyone feeding them on here.

 

[canada-goose]

5 week olds tend to be scared of anything new so don't expect them to eat the treats. Older chickens enjoy grated cheddar cheese though!

 

[dlolato]

I have one hundred new chicks right now in the age range from two weeks old to three months old. Every day they get special treats - below is a list of this weeks:

1. Monday - cooked rice mixed with buttermilk
2. Tuesday - bread from the day old bakery mixed with chicken stock until soggy
3. Wednesday - mealworms
4. Thursday - left over potatoes, carrots, celery and onions from home-made chicken
soup - mashed and mixed with leftover french bread
5. Friday - scrambled eggs mixed with bread and yogurt to moisten

I normally plan my weekly meals around the chickens, knowing that the leftovers will be something that they will enjoy eating. With the angel hair, I would mix it with milk or yogurt or some king of broth and mash it up. My will eat it very quickly fixed like that and if you just put the plain pasta in their, the liklihood for the little ones, is probably just a few pecks.

I find that the more I mash it and the more I flavor it, the better they eat it!!!!!

 

[gritsar]

Chickens are scared of everything at first. You have to leave treats in with the young ones for awhile before they get up the courage to try it. Just because they don't go running right up and eat it all, don't give up. Try using the same bowl, preferably a brightly colored one, for their treats every time. They'll come to associate that bowl with yummy things.
They can have the mealworms. Anyone that thinks they can't hasn't seen two week old chicks devour a large spider that is unfortunate enough to wander into their brooder.
Plain low-fat yogurt and chopped or scrambled eggs are good too. Also, oatmeal.
When I have leftover angel hair, it gets thrown out whole. They eat it the same way they'd eat a worm.
Keep in mind that if they were with mama hen she'd be feeding them all kinds of tasty treats from just a few days old.
I'd stay away from the pre-packaged suet cakes when the chicks are small. Alot of fat and not much else. Later they might enjoy a homemade flock block. You can find recipes for one by doing a search, keyword 'flock block'.
ALL THINGS IN MODERATION while they are young. They really need the complete nutrition of their starter food. Just like human peeps, they will fill up on the "candy" and leave the good nutrition if you give them the choice.
Don't forget, anything that will need grinding in their crops and they are going to need grit.

 

[Airilith]

Wow thanks for all the suggestions guys. I've got them on parakeet grit already. So they're primed and ready for a few treats here and there. Just didn't know what to try.

I love the homemade flock block. I'll have to look those recipes up. That'll be fun to make for them once they're a little bit bigger. I think I might whip up some angel hair for them tomorrow. The way they hunt bugs makes me think the worm appearance might excite them

 

[Happy Chooks]

I've given my 8 week olds carrot tops, pieces of bread torn really small, and they LOVED cooked spagetti squash. The spagetti squash was nice and mushy and they went crazy for it.

 

[joletabey]

Mine like mashed scrambled egg, mashed banana, oatmeal as long as there is banana mashed in it and yogurt- they jump all over it!

 

[Airilith]

Well this morning when I went over to check on my chicks, I was eating my morning yogurt. And thought, 'Hey I know I've seen people talk about feeding their chickens yogurt. Wonder if mine would like some.' So I took a bowl with some of their crumbles in it and mixed in a couple of scoops of my vanilla yogurt. Oh my gosh, they loved it. After they got over the apprehension of the bowl, and I stuck some of it to my fingers they started chowing down hard core. Yay! It was sooo cute.

And the best part is that they were really just eating there normal food with a little bit of yogurt. So I'm not really replacing any of their normal feed with nutrionless treats. Woot!